1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a remote monitoring system, and in particular, to an apparatus for performing remote monitoring using a mobile videophone.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional remote monitoring system, a camera is mounted on a remotely situated pan-and-tilt pedestal, which is controlled by wire or controlled wirelessly with a remote controller within a limited radius. A remote place's picture photographed by the camera mounted on the pan-and-tilt pedestal is transmitted by wire to a monitoring terminal such as a computer.
However, the conventional remote monitoring system costs a great deal for installing the camera on the pan-and-tilt pedestal and needs a lot of additional equipments for controlling the remotely situated camera. In addition, the monitoring terminal is connected to the camera by wire in order for a user to view the remote place picture photographed by the camera through the monitoring terminal. This makes it difficult to install and maintain the conventional remote monitoring system. Moreover, when the number of remote places to be monitored through the conventional remote monitoring system increases, the scale of the conventional remote monitoring system is unacceptably enlarged.